With that informal vote in a community center gym, the Houston Day Laborer Network was born Saturday, joining similar groups in more than 20 cities around the country.

It was, the men were told, a historic moment for Houston and the first step toward fighting for better working conditions and fair pay for the laborers who stake out about 29 corners in the city each morning, hoping to find work.

"You are the advocates of a new way to ask for your rights and to demand pay, a fair pay," said Amador, outreach coordinator with the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which has helped set up many of the local networks. "Out of this, we are getting documentation of the reality of day laborers in Houston."

That reality, according to those who gathered Saturday, includes employers who often cheat laborers _ negotiating one price, then paying far less or nothing at all. It is being afraid of police, who sweep workers off corners; of nearby business owners, who chafe at their presence; and of criminals and bullies, who prey on the clusters of men.

The day-laborer reality also means harsh competition for few jobs, with younger, more agile workers beating out older men or those in poor physical condition. And often, many men said, it means employers who pick up crews at their regular corner location but refuse to return them there after the end of the day, leaving the workers stranded in strange neighborhoods.

"Those are just some of the problems we have. Many, many others exist too," said Limbor Israel Dican, 48. "Violations of our rights. Demands that we do more work than agreed to. Some people don't even want to give us water when we're working."

Dican, who has worked as a day laborer since he came to the United States from Honduras more than two years ago, said he can earn $80 to $100 for a 10-hour day but often can only find one day of work a week. On a good week, he can work up to three days.

Most of that money goes to his wife and four children back home. A 19-year-old son died of cancer five months ago, but Dican, who is here illegally, could not go to Honduras for the funeral.

"I came here looking for a better future," said Dican. "But this is a hard life. One feels wounded, abandoned and alone."

Day laborer networks have proven effective in other cities, often by fighting anti-day laborers ordinances through the court system.

The next step for the Houston group is to go back to the corners and recruit more members. Leaders plan to meet again in about a month to start planning a campaign for improved conditions and a minimum wage.

The biggest obstacle may be getting other laborers to push past their fear of coming out of the shadows, said Amador. Dozens of workers from one Houston corner did not come to Saturday's meeting because they worried that the organizers were immigration agents in disguise.

"We are treated with condescension and disrespect," Dican said. "That's why we are trying to make this organization work."